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Monday, February 2

How to Create an Author Facebook Page

Creating a Facebook Page is a big step, because it says
you’re ready to get more readers and engage with them. Every author has
a different experience with each form of social media. The important thing is
that we try them out and see what works best for us.

FYI #1: You don't need to be published to have a
Facebook page. When I first created mine, the category was under
"writer" because I'd only published flash fiction on ezines. After I
published Hurricane Crimes, I changed the category to "author." You
don't even need readers to create one. I didn't have any readers. Even if you
have little sales, create a Facebook page. Your blog and social media sites can
help you get sales. I say can because these places alone won't bring you sales.

How to Create a Facebook Page:

You will need to go to www.Facebook.com and click “Create
a Page” for a celebrity, band or business at the bottom of the screen. (You
will need a personal Facebook profile to do this, so you can be a
moderator of your page.) Follow the prompts they ask you, and make sure you
select “People” as your category and either Writer or Author. If possible,
use your name/pen name for your Address. It would look like this: www.facebook.com/ChrysFey If
your name is taken, try adding “Author” before or after your name like:
facebook.com/YourNameAuthorFYI #2: Facebook pages are FREE!

Then start filling in your information such as your bio,
personal information, and personal interests. It’s always nice to include
something for each of these because it lets your readers get to know you more.
For my bio, I didn’t paste in the bio that you can find on my blog or website. Instead, I shared the story
about how I started writing, the struggles I encounter, the origin of my pen
name, and how I became an author. For the personal interests, I
mentioned my hobbies and things I like.

TIP #1: Facebook pages have a
new "Call-to-Action" button. Look for it where your cover photo goes.
Insert a link with select an action such as "Shop" and follow the
steps. It's really easy. I used the URL to my Amazon Author Page.

After you add all
of your information and a cover photo, you can invite your friends and family.
Just a little heads up: I quickly learned that people you think will support
you don’t. So don’t be disappointed if not all your friends/family like
your page.

How to get FB Likes:

1.Invite
your family and friends.

2.Tell
the bloggers/writers/authors you know personally, but make sure to like their
page in return. Sending them a personal message is the best way to do this, not
with a comment on their blog or a bulk email.

TIP #2: But please don’t expect hundreds of likes right away.
Just like with blog followers, it takes time. And after awhile, you'll notice some people will unlike your page. That's okay. Just tell yourself they aren't your target audience.

Now that you have a few likes, it’s time to consider what
you’ll be posting on your page. Grab a notebook and jot down some ideas. You can even stalk a few
bloggers/authors you admire to see that they post.

Many writers don’t know what to share or how personal to
get on social media. Here’s a list of ideas for you. You could easily plan
ahead with these and schedule posts a week in advance.

1. After you type your status and add a picture
(if one is needed), all you have to do is click the dropdown arrow that says "Share Now."

2. Click “schedule” and change the date and
time information.

3. When you’re done, click “schedule”. Now you
don’t have to worry about staying current on FB when you’re busy writing or on
vacation.

TIP #3:Schedule your posts to go up before 8:00am
(EST) before people head out to work, around noon when people are on
their lunch breaks, and around 5:00/6:00pm when people get off work.

Here is a timeline of my Facebook page’s major
accomplishments to give you an idea of how long it took me to get to where I am
today:

Created
PageJune 10th 2012

30
Likes December 1st 2012

First Random Like December 17th 2012

50
Likes February 19th 2013

100
likes September 4th 2013

150
likes December 26th 2013

200
likes March 7th 2014

FYI #3: Facebook is limiting how many people see your
promotional posts that are all "buy, buy, buy." As long as you're
creative with your posts about sales and book releases and avoid the word
"buy," people should see it. It's true though that not as many followers
are seeing posts from pages anymore and that's because those people don't
actively engage in that page's posts, so that page's posts eventually drop off
their news feed. You can combat this by being as engaging and interesting as
you can.

SHARE your Facebook tips.

QUESTION: What do you like to post on Facebook? What do
you like seeing other authors/writers post?

fantastic tips. I need to get my FB author page going more. I only ever just post when I've blogged, but seeing as I hardly use my personal fb anymore I should start making it like that in a way and post pics of my kitten and snow lol. And just interact more! :)

Great tips, Chrys. Although I hardly use my author Facebook because it never reaches everyone within my audience, not even those who have given me likes. I paid Facebook several times to boost my posts but this was a total disaster! Not only did I not make a dime but Facebook even charged my credit card for boosting post I never signed up to boost! If I could go without an author Facebook, I probably would but I know we need to put ourselves out there on social media.I imagine those who don't have author Facebooks will use your post today to create one=) I wish I read this before because it took me all day to figure it out!

I'm a hermit when it comes to social media (or anything social). I don't share much about my writing or my personal life (unless it's a cute picture of my kids). I guess I get more use out of my personal account where my kids pop up.

I liked your "Post Ideas." Spending time on FB tends to drain me for some reason so I'm not there very often. I'm not saying I'll never have an author/writer page there, but right now, I'm a Twitter girl through and through. The more streamlined and focused platform is a lot more manageable and enjoyable for me. :)

Great tips, Chrys! I didn't know about the buy the book link. I'll add that to my page. One tip is add your page link to your personal facebook page. When someone or friends click on your page they'll see your link to your author page and an option to LIKE it without even leaving the page. 'Promote your page' ads are worthwhile. I paid $5 and got over 20 new likes. It's great exposure and if your target audience is there, then definitely worth a few dollars to reach them.

I'm not sure if I should create one FB page for both my pen names, or create two. I made two on Goodreads, since they don't let you have more than one pen name at the same author page. Every so often, I get a new "like" on the two pages I created for two of my books. They're mostly a collection of resources I used while writing the books, along with a couple of excerpts, table of contents, and character lists.

I have an author page, and post a daily "Mom Thought of the Day.'' They're inspirational quotes. It's a way to give something useful to my followers, while occasionally giving updates related to my writing. I like all these tips, though. I recently added the shop button. I'm interested to see if it helps increase sales.

I definitely need to use mine better. And THANKS for the heads up on the call to action. I think that wasn't there when I set mine up. But ALSO watch out for too much. I recently went through and set up "notifications" on pages of several author friends because I knew liking and sharing their posts increases their visibility, but I've quickly discovered a few of these folks over use and they've annoyed me... those notifications are going off again--important to keep the balance!

When you log into your FB page, a notification should pop up. It did for me. If nothing pops up, you should be able to see a "call-to-action" button where your cover picture is located (on the opposite side from your profile pic, next to the "share" button). If you don't see it at all, your page may not have been updated with it. This is a new feature.

Now I know how to do this! It's too bad FB's algorithms are making it tougher for business pages (and author pages) to be seen by those who like or follow them. I heard it's about to get worse, but I hope that's not the case...

I've done a lot of research on the newest change to FB pages that is limiting promotion, and from what I've read it only limits how many people see your posts that are all "buy, buy, buy." As long as you're creative with your posts about sales and book releases and avoid the word "buy" people should see it. It's true though that not as many followers are seeing posts from pages and that's because they don't actively engage in that page's posts, so they eventually drop off their news feed.

I've been on Facebook for a long time but I really don't do much with it. I've thought about starting afresh with an author page, but wondered what to post on it that I don't say on my blog. Your tips have given me food for thought, so I might actually do this!

Great tips! I was advised by a digital strategist to keep one FB (my personal one) rather than split my audience. But then, my readers aren't legally allowed to join FB. I do get a lot of moms and fellow writers who friend me on there but my personal FB is pretty much made up of the same things I post on Twitter!

FB has been a tool that grew the slowest for me. I don't get much happening on there no matter what or how much or little I post. I keep it going because there are a few faithful readers, but my blog is my most powerful social media tool with Twitter close behind.

Christine, if you want to jumpstart your Facebook author actions, my Task 6 in the Small Steps Plan deals with some ideas to do that. You can get a free copy of the Small Steps Plan template by subscribing for my emails by filling in the sign up form on the right hand side of my author blog. You do not have any obligations if you join and you can unsubscribe at any time. Once you have joined, one of the several bonus gifts sent to you by me is the template. If you have any comments in the template, feel free to email them to me at smallsp@telus.net

I hope you enjoy the template and wish you much success with your future FB activities!

Helpful pointers and guidance, Chrys. Thank you.For now, I have one fb page for all of it (personal and professional). It seems to work alright, because a lot of my facebook friends are interested in my writing, so I link to my blog on fb. I may branch out at some point with an author page. I'll come back to this post if I do.

So if I created an author page on Facebook, wouldn't that mean I would have to check back quite often and answer any questions or reply to comments left there, much like I do for my blog? Because if that's so, how do writers find time to spend two hours answering blog comments and Facebook comments, or maybe more than two hours, and then have time left to write? The idea of adding more commitments to my day than I already have scares me to death. I might wait on the Facebook author page for a while. I'm on Facebook, but not with an author page. Just me, who visits once or twice a month on my page. :-)

Yes, you technically would, but if you log into her personal page once or twice a day you'll be able to see if there are notifications for your author page. If there are, you can easily pop over. I don't get that many comments on my FB page unless I post something. And even then it may just be 3-5 comments on average.

Thank you for the info. I have a question. A few years ago I opened a Facebook page. I've used that personal page as an author page and friended lots of people. I now have an author page. How do I move the readers of my personal page to my author page. When new people want to be my friend, how do I make sure it's for my author page not my personal page?